time
old age
At a glance
In short
As Bedersi and Radak order them, the three age words ascend: zaken is an elder (sixty); seivah, old age proper (seventy), comes after it (Bedersi); and yashish, the aged, is older still (Radak). Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim puts yashish before zaken and seivah, a man long in adulthood and on the cusp of old age. For Shadal, though, zaken is anyone of honor and importance, whatever his age, as senior and signore are. Yashan is old of plants and produce, not of people ("aged," "last year's"), for Shapira-Frankfurter; Pappenheim, who derives it from shanah, a year, says it of a person of many years. Atik is ancient, old by remoteness in time. Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein judges Rabbi Ernest Klein's explanation of vatik the more plausible; on it vatik means veteran or senior, one of standing and reliability, and is no age word at all.
Distinctions
Zaken (זקן)
The Mishnah's stage list (Avos 5:24) sets zaken at sixty and seivah at seventy.
- Rabbi Avraham Bedersi HaPenini concludes from this, and from two pesukim which imply that a man is a zaken before he reaches seivah (Shmuel I 12:2; Yeshayahu 46:4), that seivah is the later stage.
- Shadal (to Bereishis 50:7): zaken is anyone in a position of honor and importance, whatever his age, as Spanish señor and Italian signore, from Latin senior, and senator, carry honor and not old age.
- Noam Elimelech (Chayei Sarah): a tzaddik is called zaken even when young, because he sees himself as a man of advanced age who may die at any moment, and that thought keeps him in constant teshuvah.
- Rabbi Yehuda Leib Shapira-Frankfurter (HaRechasim LeVik'ah): zaken belongs to people and animals, not to plants; Iyov 14:8, which calls a plant's root zaken, is a borrowed usage and not the word's primary sense.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim traces zaken to the two-letter root zayin-kuf, the breaking down of physical things and the discharge of their core components, so that zaken is old age marked by the breaking down of one's physical form. He applies it to a person, man or woman (Bereishis 18:12-13), or to a plant (Iyov 14:8), the pasuk Shapira-Frankfurter calls a borrowed usage.
- The Targumim tend to render zaken either kashish or sav.
Seivah (שיבה)
Old age at seventy. Rabbi Eliezer Reines (Maftechos HaDamesek) reads seivah as a contraction of seva yamim, "satisfied with days," the phrase Rashi and Bartenura attach to seventy in Avos. Aramaic sav (with a samech) is its cousin, and the two stand behind saba, an old man or a grandfather.
Yashish (ישיש)
- Radak (Sefer HaShorashim) places yashish after seivah on the strength of Iyov 15:10, so yashish marks a more advanced age than seivah.
- Bedersi suggests it may name the Mishnah's next stage, ninety, "bent over."
- Radak derives it from yesh: one who has existed a very long time.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim also traces it to yud-shin, yesh, "has, is, exists," the root of ish, a man, since a mature adult has all he needs to succeed in life and stands at the height of his existence. Yashish is a man who has remained in that state of adulthood a long time and is now on the cusp of old age, the yesh doubled to stress how long. In line with this he puts yashish before zaken and seivah, where Radak and Bedersi make it the last stage of growing old.
The word appears only four times in Tanach, all in Iyov (12:12, 15:10, 29:8, 32:6).
Kashish (קשיש)
The Aramaic equivalent, the Targum's standing rendering of yashish and one of its two usual renderings of zaken.
- Rabbeinu Chananel (Bava Metzia 109b) and Rabbi Nosson of Rome (Sefer HeAruch): Aramaic kash derives from kashish, which carries the same sense as yashish.
- As for how the two words connect etymologically, Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein reports that the only idea he could find is an unlikely one, proposed by Rabbi Mordechai Tzvi Herzka (Divrei Chachamim): that aleph, yud and kuf can interchange because in gematria they are the first number of the ones, the tens and the hundreds respectively, so the yud of Hebrew yashish becomes the kuf of Aramaic kashish.
- Rabbi Yehoshua Steinberg: kashish is from kasheh, hard, and was applied to age either because the old need reinforcement or because their joints stiffen, or their views harden.
Yashan (ישן)
For Shapira-Frankfurter it is old of plants rather than of persons, and he pairs it against zaken: zaken for people and animals, yashan for plants and other flora.
Zaken is said of a person, yashan of a thing (Chiddushei HaRa'ah to Berachos ch. 9, and Pekudas HaLeviim there §11; HaKsav VeHaKabbalah to Bereishis 18:11, citing Rechasim LeBik'ah).
Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim says it of a person. He traces yashan to the two-letter root shin-nun, doubling: shnayim, two; mishneh, the second in command after the king; shein, a tooth, since most people grow two sets; hishanos, repetition (Bereishis 41:32); sheinah, sleep, when the mind goes back over all its thoughts; shinui, change, since what is repeated cannot exactly reproduce what came before; and shanah, a year, fixed by the sun's return to the same spot in the sky. Yashan comes from shanah: a person who may be called yashan has lived through many years. He also proposes yud-shin for yashan, as for yashish, but concludes that it comes from shin-nun.
Atik (עתיק)
Root ayin-tav-kuf, whose primary sense in Tanach is movement in space: Avraham and later Yitzchak move camp (vayaatek, Bereishis 12:8 and 26:22), and a child is atik when "moved away" from nursing (Yeshayahu 28:9). In later usage the root means to copy or transcribe, as though one took the information from one document and moved it to another. Because Hebrew presumes a connection between time and space, atik also names what is far removed in time, hence Daniel's Atik Yomin, Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9 and 7:22). Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein used to think the English antique was a corruption of atik, until Rabbi Shaul Goldman told him that linguists parse it otherwise, as the Proto-Indo-European ant, "front, before," plus okw, "to see." Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh (Eim LaMikra to Bereishis 38:17), though, derives the Latin antiquus from atik and rejects ante as its source; the added nun is a common change, as chitah is chinta in Aramaic and itta, woman, is also inta.
Vatik (ותיק)
A talmid vatik in the Gemara is a veteran or experienced disciple; vatikin are those who rise to daven at the earliest possible time; and Yedid Nefesh, ascribed to Rabbi Elazar Azikri, addresses Hashem as Vatik, which one might connect with His being called Atik. In all these one might be tempted to hear "old," or at least "old-timer." Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein judges another explanation more plausible: Rabbi Ernest Klein, in his etymological dictionary, relates vatik to the Arabic wathuqa, "firm, solid," seniority and distinction being what a man earns by acting dependably and reliably. On that account vatik refers to dependability and standing in a particular position, not to an age.
A popular folk etymology connects vatikin to the Vatican, the home of the Papacy and the Holy See, on the grounds that its leaders too claim to be dependable and reliable. Serious linguists reject it, and derive Vatican from the Latin vates, soothsayer or prophet, and cano, to sing or chant, the site having housed a pagan oracle before it became the center of Christianity.
Where the authorities disagree
Whether zaken is an age.
- Avos 5:24 and Bedersi: the age of sixty, a stage before seivah.
- Shadal (to Bereishis 50:7): anyone in a position of honor and importance, whatever his physical age, as Spanish señor and Italian signore, from Latin senior, and senator carry honor and not old age.
Where yashish stands.
- Radak (Sefer HaShorashim, from Iyov 15:10): after seivah, the last stage of growing old; Bedersi suggests it may be the Mishnah's ninety.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim: before zaken and seivah, a man who has long been in the state of adulthood and is now on the cusp of old age.
Whether zaken is said of plants, and yashan of people.
- Rabbi Yehuda Leib Shapira-Frankfurter: zaken for people and animals, yashan for plants; Iyov 14:8, which calls a plant's root zaken, is a borrowed usage. Chiddushei HaRa'ah and HaKsav VeHaKabbalah likewise give zaken to a person and yashan to a thing.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim: zaken applies to a person, man or woman (Bereishis 18:12-13), or to a plant (Iyov 14:8); and yashan, from shanah, is a person who has lived through many years.
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ז-ק-ן
To grow old, with the old man, the elder and old age; and, under the same letters, the beard.
Growing old
וַיְהִי כִּי זָקֵן יִצְחָק (Bereishis 27:1), and it was when Yitzchak grew old, is a verb, while וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן (Bereishis 24:1), and Avraham was old, is an adjective. In construct, זְקַן בֵּיתוֹ (Bereishis 24:2), the elder of his house; and זָקַנְתִּי וָשַׂבְתִּי (Shmuel I 12:2), I am old and grey.
Old age
כִּי בֶן זְקֻנִים הוּא לוֹ (Bereishis 37:3), for he was a son of old age to him, and בֵּן לִזְקֻנָיו (Bereishis 21:2), a son to his old age: זְקֻנִים is a plural noun from which no singular comes, like נְעוּרִים, youth, and בְּתוּלִים, maidenhood. In other patterns, וְעֵינֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּֽבְדוּ מִזֹּקֶן (Bereishis 48:10), and the eyes of Yisrael were heavy with age; and זִקְנָה, old age, in וְעַד־ זִקְנָה אֲנִי הוּא (Yeshayahu 46:4), even to old age I am He, and אַֽחֲרֵי זִקְנָתָהּ (Bereishis 24:36), after her old age.
Coming to be old
אִם יַזְקִין בָּאָרֶץ שָׁרְשׁוֹ (Iyov 14:8), though its root grow old in the ground, and גַּם כִּי יַזְקִין לֹא יָסוּר מִמֶּנָּה (Mishlei 22:6), even when he is old he will not turn from it.
The beard
וְגַם אֶת הַזָּקָן תִּסְפֶּה (Yeshayahu 7:20), and the beard too shall be swept away; in construct בִּזְקַן עֲמָשָׂא לִנְשָׁק לוֹ (Shmuel II 20:9), by Amasa's beard, to kiss him, and וְהֶחֱזַקְתִּי בִּזְקָנוֹ (Shmuel I 17:35), and I took hold of his beard. The word comes as a masculine at עַד יְצַמַּח זְקַנְכֶם (Shmuel II 10:5), until your beard grows, and as a feminine at וְכָל זָקָן גְּרֻעָה (Yirmiyahu 48:37), every beard shorn, and again at וְגַם אֶת הַזָּקָן תִּסְפֶּה.
וַֽיְהִי כִּֽי־זָקֵן יִצְחָק (בראשית כז, א), פעל עובר. וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן (בראשית כד, א), תאר. ובסמוך זְקַן בֵּיתוֹ (בראשית כד, ב), זָקַנְתִּי וָשַׂבְתִּי (שמואל א' יב, ב). והשם כִּֽי־בֶן־זְקֻנִים הוּא לוֹ (בראשית לז, ג), בֵּן לִזְקֻנָיו (בראשית כא, ב), והוא שם בלשון רבים לא יבא ממנו יחיד וכן נְעוּרִים, בְּתוּלִים. ומשקל אחר וְעֵינֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כָּֽבְדוּ מִזֹּקֶן (בראשית מח, י). ומשקל אחר וְעַד־זִקְנָה אֲנִי הוּא (ישעיה מו, ד), אַֽחֲרֵי זִקְנָתָהּ (בראשית כד, לו). והפעל הנוסף [הִפְעִיל] אִם־יַזְקִין בָּאָרֶץ שָׁרְשׁוֹ (איוב יד, ח), גַּם כִּֽי־יַזְקִין לֹֽא־יָסוּר מִמֶּֽנָּה (משלי כב, ו). והשם וְגַם אֶת־הַזָּקָן תִּסְפֶּֽה (ישעיה ז, כ). ובסמוך בִּזְקַן עֲמָשָׂא לִנְשָׁק־לֽוֹ (שמואל ב' כ, ט), וְהֶחֱזַקְתִּי בִּזְקָנוֹ (שמואל ב' א' יז,. ויבא בלשון זכר עַד־יְצַמַּח זְקַנְכֶם (שמואל ב' ב' י,. ובלשון נקבה וְכָל־זָקָן גְּרֻעָה (ירמיה מח, לז), וְגַם אֶת־הַזָּקָן תִּסְפֶּֽה (ישעיה ז, כ).
י-ש-ן
To sleep, with sleep and the sleeper; in another sense old, as in יָשָׁן נוֹשָׁן, very old: ישן of last year, נושן of three years.
Sleeping
יָשַׁנְתִּי אָז יָנוּחַֽ לִֽי (Iyov 3:13), "I would have slept, then it would be restful for me", and וְיָֽשְׁנוּ שְׁנַת־עוֹלָם וְלֹא יָקִיצוּ (Yirmiyahu 51:39), "and they shall sleep an everlasting sleep and not awake".
The noun, and שֵׁנָֽא with an alef
אַל־תֶּֽאֱהַב שֵׁנָה פֶּן־תִּוָּרֵשׁ (Mishlei 20:13), "do not love sleep lest you be dispossessed"; in כֵּן יִתֵּן לִֽידִידוֹ שֵׁנָֽא (Tehillim 127:2), "so He gives His beloved sleep", the alef stands in place of a heh. Without smichus it takes a tav: אִם־אֶתֵּן שְׁנָת לְעֵינָי (Tehillim 132:4), "if I give sleep to my eyes".
One who is asleep
The adjective in וַיִּקַץ כְּיָשֵׁן י"י (Tehillim 78:65), and Hashem awoke as one who sleeps, and אֲנִי יְשֵׁנָה וְלִבִּי עֵר (Shir HaShirim 5:2), I am asleep but my heart is awake.
Putting to sleep
The heavy form, whose sense is known: וַתְּיַשְּׁנֵהוּ עַל־בִּרְכֶיהָ (Shoftim 16:19), and she put him to sleep on her knees.
Old, and older still
Another sense: וַֽאֲכַלְתֶּם יָשָׁן (Vayikra 26:10), and you shall eat what is old, and חֲדָשִׁים גַּם־ יְשָׁנִים (Shir HaShirim 7:14), new ones and also old. יָשָׁן נוֹשָׁן (Vayikra 26:10) means very old: ישן is of last year, נושן of three years.
יָשַׁנְתִּי אָז יָנוּחַֽ לִֽי (איוב ג, יג), לָבֶטַח וְיָֽשְׁנוּ בַּיְּעָרִֽים (יחזקאל לד, כה), וְיָֽשְׁנוּ שְׁנַת־עוֹלָם וְלֹא יָקִיצוּ (ירמיה נא, לט), וַיִּישָׁן וַֽיַּֽחֲלֹם שֵׁנִית (בראשית מא, ה), כִּי לֹא יִֽשְׁנוּ אִם־לֹא יָרֵעוּ (משלי ד, טז), היו"ד מעמדה בגעיא. עוּרָה לָמָּה תִישַׁן י"י (תהלים מד, כד), אֵינֶנּוּ מַנִּיחַֽ לוֹ לִישֽׁוֹן (קהלת ה, יא), והתאר וַיִּקַץ כְּיָשֵׁן י"י (תהלים עח, סה), אֲנִי יְשֵׁנָה וְלִבִּי עֵר (שיר השירים ה, ב). והשם אַל־תֶּֽאֱהַב שֵׁנָה פֶּן־תִּוָּרֵשׁ (משלי כ, יג), כֵּן יִתֵּן לִֽידִידוֹ שֵׁנָֽא (תהלים קכז, ב), האל"ף תמורת ה"א. מְתוּקָה שְׁנַת הָֽעֹבֵד (קהלת ה, יא), שְׁנַת־עוֹלָם (ירמיה נא, לט). ובלי סמיכות עם התי"ו אִם־אֶתֵּן שְׁנָת לְעֵינָי (תהלים קלב, ד), וּשְׁנָתוֹ נִֽהְיְתָה עָלָֽיו (דניאל ב, א). והפעל הכבד [פִּעֵל] וַתְּיַשְּׁנֵהוּ עַל־בִּרְכֶיהָ (שופטים טז, יט), ידוע. וענין אחר וַֽאֲכַלְתֶּם יָשָׁן (ויקרא כו, י), חֲדָשִׁים גַּם־יְשָׁנִים (שיר השירים ז, יד). והנפעל ממנו [אולי ט"ס] וְנֽוֹשַׁנְתֶּם בָּאָרֶץ (דברים ד, כה). יָשָׁן נוֹשָׁן (ויקרא כו, י), רוצה לומר ישן מאד, ישן של אשתקד, נושן של שלש שנים. צָרַעַת נוֹשֶׁנֶת היא (ויקרא יג, יא), ידוע.
י-ש-ש
The aged, further on in years than the זָקֵן, the old, or the שָׂב, the grey-haired; he takes it from יֵשׁ, being, which has stood in him many days.
Where it appears
זָקֵן וְיָשֵׁשׁ (Divrei HaYamim II 36:17), old and aged, with a tzeirei; and with a chirik גַּם שָׂב גַּם יָשִׁישׁ בָּנוּ (Iyov 15:10), among us are both the grey-haired and the aged, and בִּישִׁישִׁים חָכְמָה (Iyov 12:12), wisdom is with the aged. They are the elders, many of days, and he holds the yashish further on in years than the zakein and than the sav.
Named from being
He holds it right that the word be of the sense of יֵשׁ, there is, and reckons יָשָׁה and יְשַׁשׁ one sense; the old man is called יָשִׁישׁ because being has stood in him many days.
זָקֵן וְיָשֵׁשׁ (דברי הימים ב' לו, יז), בצרי. ובחירק גַּם־שָׂב גַּם־יָשִׁישׁ בָּנוּ (איוב טו, י), בִּֽישִׁישִׁים חָכְמָה (איוב יב, יב). הם הזקנים רבי הימים, כי הישיש רב ימים מהזקן ומהשב. ונכון הוא להיותם מענין יֵשׁ, ויָשָׁה ויְשַׁשׁ בענין אחד. ונקרא הזקן ישיש לפי שעמד הישות בו ימים רבים.
ע-ת-ק
Thick and strong, much and great; in another sense, to uproot and move from a place, so the copyist is called מעתיק, a mover; and in a third, to grow old.
Grown thick and strong
עָתְקוּ גַּם־גָּבְרוּ חָיִל (Iyov 21:7), "they have grown thick and strong in wealth"; and it is said of matters thick and strong, וְהַדְּבָרִים עַתִּיקִים (Divrei HaYamim I 4:22), "and the matters are thick and strong".
Hard words
Another form of the word: יֵצֵא עָתָק מִפִּיכֶם (Shmuel I 2:3), "let hard speech go out of your mouth", and הַדֹּבְרוֹת עַל־צַדִּיק עָתָק (Tehillim 31:19), "that speak hard words against a tzaddik".
Much and great
הוֹן עָתֵק וּצְדָקָה (Mishlei 8:18), "wealth much and great, and righteousness"; and וְלִמְכַסֶּה עָתִיק (Yeshayahu 23:18), "and for a thick covering", that is, to cover with something thick and of worth.
Uprooted from its place
In another sense, וְצוּר יֶעְתַּק מִמְּקֹמֽוֹ (Iyov 14:18), "and a rock is removed from its place", meaning it turns aside and is uprooted; הַמַּעְתִּיק הָרִים וְלֹא יָדָעוּ (Iyov 9:5), "who removes mountains and they know not", that is, uproots them from their place; וַיַּעְתֵּק מִשָּׁם הָהָרָה (Bereishis 12:8), "and he moved from there to the mountain", meaning he moved his tent from there; הֶעְתִּיקוּ מֵהֶם מִלִּים (Iyov 32:16 in his edition), "words were moved from them": the words were uprooted from them, so that they had no more words to answer.
The copyist
אֲשֶׁר הֶעְתִּיקוּ אַנְשֵׁי חִזְקִיָּה (Mishlei 25:1), "which the men of Chizkiyahu copied": one who writes from book to book is called מעתיק, a mover, because he moves and uproots the words from one book into another; and though the words of the first book are not moved out of it, the scribe is as though he moved them.
Weaned, or fat
The adjective עַתִּיקֵי מִשָּׁדָיִם (Yeshayahu 28:9) means those uprooted from the breasts, who will suckle no more, like גְּמוּלֵי מֵחָלָב, "weaned from milk", in that same pasuk. His father wrote it from the first sense, which Radak spells out: thick and fat from the breasts, from the much milk they sucked, and without understanding.
Grown old
In a further sense, עָתְקָה בְּכָל־צוֹרְרָי (Tehillim 6:8), "it has grown old because of all my adversaries": it has aged because of all my adversaries who anger me, and from much weeping over that anger it has aged. Like it in Aramaic is וְעַתִּיק יוֹמִין יְתִב (Daniel 7:9), "and the Ancient of Days sat", and the Targum renders ישן, old, as עתיק; and וְהַדְּבָרִים עַתִּיקִים may be explained from this sense, "and the matters are old".
עָתְקוּ גַּם־גָּבְרוּ חָֽיִל (איוב כא, ז), עבו וחזקו. ואמר על הדברים העבים החזקים וְהַדְּבָרִים עַתִּיקִֽים (דברי הימים א' ד, כב). ומשקל אחר יֵצֵא עָתָק מִפִּיכֶם (שמואל א' ב, ג), הַדֹּבְרוֹת עַל־צַדִּיק עָתָק (תהלים לא, יט). ומשקל אחר הוֹן עָתֵק וּצְדָקָֽה (משלי ח, יח), רב וגדול. ומשקל אחר וְלִמְכַסֶּה עָתִֽיק (ישעיה כג, יח), פירוש לכסות עב וחשוב. וענין אחר וְצוּר יֶעְתַּק מִמְּקֹמֽוֹ (איוב יד, יח), יסור ויעקר. והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] הַמַּעְתִּיק הָרִים וְלֹא יָדָעוּ (איוב ט, ה), כלומר עוקרים ממקומם. וַיַּעְתֵּק מִשָּׁם הָהָרָה (בראשית יב, ח), פירוש ויעתק אהלו משם. הֶעְתִּיקוּ מֵהֶם מִלִּֽים (איוב לב, טז), עקרו הדברים מהם שלא היו להם עוד דברים לענות. אֲשֶׁר הֶעְתִּיקוּ אַנְשֵׁי חִזְקִיָּה (משלי כה, א), כותב הספרים מספר אל ספר יקרא מעתיק לפי שמעתיק ועוקר הדברים מספר לספר ואף על פי שדברי הספר הראשון אינם נעתקים ממנו הרי הסופר כאילו הוא מעתיק אותם. והתאר עַתִּיקֵי מִשָּׁדָֽיִם (ישעיה כח, ט), כלומר שנעקרו משרים שלא יינקו עוד כמו גְּמוּלֵי מֵֽחָלָב (שם). ואדוני אבי ז"ל כתבו מהענין הראשון כלומר עתיקים ושמנים משדים מרוב חלב שינקו ואין להם תבונה. ועני אחר עָֽתְקָה בְּכָל־צוֹרְרָֽי (תהלים ו, ח), כלומר נתישנה בעבור כל צוררי המכעיסים אותי ומרוב בכיתם על הכעס נתישנה. ודומה לו בלשון ארמית וְעַתִּיק יוֹמִין יְתִב (דניאל ז, ט). ותרגום ישן עָתִיק, ויתכן לפרש מזה וְהַדְּבָרִים עַתִּיקִֽים.
ק-ש-ש
To gather up fine things, straw or thin sticks, the verb being derived from קַשׁ, straw; and likewise of searching out faults and gathering them with care.
Gathering straw and sticks
לְקֹשֵׁשׁ קַשׁ (Shemos 5:12), to gather straw, and מְקֹשֵׁשׁ עֵצִים (Bamidbar 15:32), gathering wood. The kash is the fine straw, or the thin sticks, and the verb is derived from it: the picking up of fine things, straw or wood. He gives the vernacular word for it.
Searching out blemishes
The word is used likewise of searching out blemishes and gathering them with care, as with fine things, which need careful searching. הִתְקוֹשְׁשׁוּ וָקוֹשּׁוּ (Tzefaniah 2:1), search yourselves and search, means search yourselves of your own evil blemishes and afterwards search others, as Chazal said from this pasuk (Bava Basra 60a), correct yourself and afterwards correct others. They also said (Yerushalmi Shabbos), נקשש גרמין עד לא נקשש אחרין, let us search ourselves before we search others.
Reprovers reproved
Likewise וְלַמּוֹכִיחַ בַּשַּׁעַר יְקֹשׁוּן (Yeshayahu 29:21), and the one who reproves in the gate they search out, the quiescent letter standing in place of the doubling. It means that they reprove the reprovers, in the manner of what Chazal said (Bava Basra 15b) of a generation that judges its judges: one says to him, take the splinter from between your eyes, and he says back, take the beam from between your eyes.
לְקשֵׁשׁ קַשׁ (שמות ה, יב), מְקשֵׁשׁ עֵצִים (במדבר טו, לב), הקש הוא התבן הדק, או העצים הדקים ונגזר ממנו לקושש ומקושש, כלומר לקיטת הדברים הדקים תבן או עצים בושקליי"א בלע"ז. וכן בחיפוש המומים ולקיטתם היטב כמו הדברים הדקים שצריך חפוש היטב. [הִתְפָּעֵל] הִתְקֽוֹשְׁשׁוּ וָקוֹשּׁוּ (צפניה ב, א), כלומר התחפשו ממומיכם הרעים ואחר כך חפשו האחרים כמו שאמרו רבותינו ז"ל (בבא בתרא ס, ע"א) מזה הפסוק קשט עצמך ואחרי כן קשט אחרים. ואמרו עוד (ירושלמי שבת ע"ב) נקשש גרמין עד לא נקשש אחרין. וכן וְלַמּוֹכִיחַ בַּשַּׁעַר יְקֹשׁוּן (ישעיה כט, כא), והנח תמורת הכפל במקום הדגש. ורצה לומר שמוכיחים למוכיחים, אותם כענין שאמרו רבותינו ז"ל (בבא בתרא טו, ע"ב) דור ששופט את שופטיו אומר לו טול קיסם מבין עיניך אומר לו טול קורה מבין עיניך.
ש-י-בhe files it under שׂוב
To grow grey; and שֵׂיבָה, greyness, which is further on than old age, as the Mishnah says: sixty for old age, seventy for greyness.
Greyness, further on than old age
זָקַנְתִּי וָשַׂבְתִּי (Shmuel I 12:2), I have grown old and grey; the adjective גַּם שָׂב גַּם יָשִׁישׁ בָּנוּ (Iyov 15:10), both the grey and the aged are among us; the noun כִּי קָמוּ עֵינָיו מִשֵּׂיבוֹ (Melachim I 14:4), for his eyes had risen from his grey age; and with the feminine ending גַּם שֵׂיבָה זָרְקָה בּוֹ (Hoshea 7:9), greyness is sprinkled on him. שֵׂיבָה is further on than זקנה, old age, as the Mishnah says (Avos 5:21), sixty for old age and seventy for greyness; and so the pasuk means, I grew grey after I had grown old.
זָקַנְתִּי וָשַׂבְתִּי (שמואל א' יב, ב). והתאר גַּם־שָׂב גַּם־יָשִׁישׁ בָּנוּ (איוב טו, יא). והשם כִּי קָמוּ עֵינָיו מִשֵּׂיבֽוֹ (מלכים א' יד, ד). ובה"א הנקבה גַּם־שֵׂיבָה זָרְקָה בּוֹ (הושע ז, ט), השיבה היא יותר מהזקנה כמו שאמרו במשנה (אבות פרק חמישי משנה כא) בן ששים לזקנה בן שבעים לשיבה, וכן דעת הפסוק ושבתי אחרי זקנתי.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Old Man and the See," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 23 November 2019.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Old Man and the See," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Avos 5:24 with Rashi and Bartenura; Shmuel I 12:2; Yeshayahu 46:4 and 28:9; Iyov 12:12, 14:8, 15:10, 29:8, 32:6; Bereishis 12:8 and 26:22; Daniel 7:9-22; Bava Metzia 109b; Radak, Sefer HaShorashim; Bedersi, Chosam Tochnis (עמ' 154-155); HaRechasim LeVik'ah; Maftechos HaDamesek; Sefer HeAruch; Rabbi Ernest Klein's etymological dictionary; Noam Elimelech, Chayei Sarah; Chiddushei HaRa'ah to Berachos ch. 9; HaKsav VeHaKabbalah to Bereishis 18:11; Rabbi Yehoshua Steinberg; Shadal to Bereishis 50:7; Bereishis 38:17 with Benamozegh; Bereishis 18:12-13 and 41:32; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, Cheshek Shlomo (שן, זק, יש) and Yerios Shlomo (עמ' 160-161).